Volkhov
by Seratin
Summary: A/U. A shadow is taking hold in the cold north, one that hasn't been seen for a thousand years. Harry answers a call for aid from an old friend and is soon thrust into a perilous situation.
1. A note

Firstly, I have to thank Virail for helping me flesh out the idea for Volkhov. He co-authored the first chapter of this fic with me and we hosted it under a different name. Unfortunately our ideas for the direction of the fic were different so we both lost interest. From the second chapter onwards, the writing for Volkhov will be done by myself only.

Let's hope I don't abandon this one, eh?


	2. The descending mist

**Chapter 1: The descending mist**

A freezing cold mist had risen from the lazy Volkhov and the nearby Volga. It hung over the streets of Nizhny Novgorod, chilling the bones of the few unwise or unlucky enough to find themselves outside. A lone figure, draped in a large heavy coat strode off the metro, uncaring of the way the small crowd that had disembarked with him instinctively gave him a wide birth.

He emerged at street level, appearing unaffected by the freezing temperatures and immediately split off from the crowd, walking instead down a small side street. Suddenly, he stopped and in motion most would have missed had they not been looking for it, drew a slender strip of wood from his cloak.

"It seems that I've overestimated you, Vasilij. I thought you would have grown out of the skulking."

"Harry Potter." The words were slurred by a thick Russian accent but was recognisable enough to halt the figure's stride. "Welcome to Novgorod."

"I don't know what you're raving about, it seems dull enough to me." Harry said as he grasped the burly Russian's forearm. Vasilij Volchok was a bear of a man in his mid twenties; his defining features a gaunt face with sharp piercing eyes which at the moment, glittered with mirth.

"I could have blown your head off, why all the cloak and dagger?" Harry asked as he stowed his wand away.

"Russia is a changed place, Harry. Gone are the days when we could walk our streets securely. None of this matters though, you didn't decapitate Viktor that night in Hogwarts, and you would hardly harm me." Vasilij replied in a teasing tone.

"Still, I get twitchy when I haven't slept for two days." Volchock merely nodded in reply as the two walked further down the alley. "So," Harry continued, "Have you heard from Viktor lately?" At this, the Russian's face twisted into an angry grimace.

"No. I travelled to Bulgaria recently to speak with his sister. She says that he hasn't been heard from since his 'trip' to Greece."

Harry scowled; this wasn't what he wanted to hear. Viktor Krum had stopped attending his national side's Quidditch trainings nearly a month ago. Krum's family had attempted to state that he was taking a short break, but it had gone on long enough to become noticeable.

"This pretty much proves it, doesn't it?" Harry asked gravely.

"Yes, I'm afraid it does. His behaviour... the letters I found. The mention of Greece leaves it beyond doubt."

Harry cursed. Viktor was his friend.

The two wizards stopped at what appeared to be a dead end. A large stone archway, apparently guarded by a statue of a bear on four legs, roaring at some envisioned foe. Vasilij laid his wand on the bear's snout and muttered a string of Russian. Harry's basic grasp of the language only caught a few words. The statue suddenly shuddered and a second later shook it's head, sending snow flying through the air. Slowly, the grey stone seemed to melt revealing a thick brown coat. Harry was surprised to see that the receding stone seemed to reveal a real bear.

"Well that's cooler than the Diagon alley entrance." Harry admitted. Vasilij simply quirked an eye as the bear padded out from under the arch. Wordlessly, the pair walked headlong through the stone wall.  
>They emerged from the arch, overlooking a large valley with steep walls. As Harry gazed into the valley he realised why Novgorod was regarded as the capital of Russia's magical culture. The place was immense. It completely dwarfed Diagon alley. The steep path leading down from the arch was lined on either side with ramshackle houses, clearly held up by magic. Further down the street, the residential area seemed to give way to more commercial avenues. Apothecaries, bookshops, taverns; the place was a pulsing hive of activity. In the distance Harry could see the warped marble pillars of a Gringotts branch and further up a palace-like structure with an onion shaped dome as a crown.<p>

In his various travels, Harry had seen many magic settlements; Novgorod rivalled the best of them.  
>He was startled by the gruff voice to his left. "Do not be fooled, Harry. It is a beautiful sight for the passing visitor. In truth, this city is a cesspool of murderers and chaos. We aurors can barely keep order here; when this many magical folk gather in one place... accidents are ripe."<p>

Harry was caught off guard by the bitterness in Vasilij's tone. "Is this part of the reason you called me here?"

"We have much to discuss, but it can wait. Tonight, we celebrate." The big Russian slung his arm around Harry's shoulder and guided him towards the nearest tavern.

The worn sign above the door announced the tavern as the 'Dancing Pixy'. Or at least that's what Harry thought it said, his Russian wasn't top notch.

Vasilij pushed the oak door of the tavern open and held it open for Harry to enter. "This is the finest Tavern in all wizarding Russia. My sister, Misha, owns the place—we will be treated well here."

Harry snorted, he had been 'treated well' by Misha in the past- he just hoped Vasilij never found out.  
>The inside of the Dancing Pixy was obviously very old but remarkably well kept. Large Oak columns punctuated the floor every few metres with an assortment of large and small tables between them. A small crowd of wizards leaned against the bar conversing with a young, bemused looking woman with short blonde hair. A thin, disgruntled looking wizard in tattered robes stared at the crowd as he wiped glasses.<p>

The young blonde spotted Harry and Vasilij and hurried over. "Vasil you oaf, it's good to see you." she said as she enveloped him in a hug. "You didn't tell me you were bringing Harry over!" The wizard in question winced as Misha winked at him over her brother's shoulder.

"Nice to see you too, Misha. You're just as lovely as the last time we met." Harry replied.  
>Misha smiled slightly before turning her attention back to her brother. "How are Anja and little Alena? Should you not be home with them?"<p>

"I should but Harry and I have important business that we must discuss over your finest if it's possible?"  
>Misha frowned. "Alright but don't drink too much. Anja nearly had my head last time." she warned as she walked behind the bar.<p>

Harry elbowed his friend in the ribs ad with a grin asked, "So, who's Alena then?"

"My newborn daughter, and the reason we are celebrating tonight instead of investigating. You will see her tonight when you stay on our couch."

"I don't get the spare room?"

"You're lucky not to be in the sty, Potter." Vasilij laughed.

"Well congratulations nonetheless. I thought that bludgeoning curse to your balls had rendered you sterile." Harry grinned.

A pitcher of beer and two small glasses of what Harry assumed was vodka floated over and set down gently on the table. Harry waved in gratitude to Misha behind the bar who was orcestrating the movement with her wand.

"She always was a show off." Vasilij joked as he lifted his glass.

"Harry lifted his glass in reply, "To your new family."

"To a world where they will be safe."

They drank in silence for some time, before Harry sighed and signalled for another round.

"So, what happened here that you need my help with?" he asked.

Vasilij glowered and drained his glass. "A few days ago, two aurors dissapeared in the marshes fifty miles from here. Normally we would assume that they were killed by a few rogue wizards and send more aurors after them, maybe use a dementor to sniff them out."

"So why don't you do that?" Harry asked, puzzled.

"One of the aurors managed to get a patronus message out before he died. In it he was screaming about the most defiled and perverted magic he had ever seen." Vasilij's knuckles grew white around his glass. "The patronus recorded his final screams. After that we stepped it up, sent a dementor out with five aurors. They were slaughtered. The really remarkable thing is that the dementor that was with them returned, without it's handlers."

The implications of this dawned on Harry. The Russian ministry held dementors in complete captivity, only letting them out when they were needed to assist their captors. No dementor would willingly return unless...

Harry hushed his voice as a group of four drunken wizards stumbled past and took a table at the back of the bar. "Placing a compulsion on a dementor is seriously foul magic, Vasilij. The last wizard to do it ended up being raped by Dumbledore."

"He's still in Nurmengard, he hasn't had a visitor in years." The auror replied, voicing Harry's thoughts.  
>"So send every bloody auror youhave out there and lay fucking siege to the place."<p>

"We are, tomorrow in fact, but there is a problem." Vasilij lowered his voice. "That land is cursed by the foulest magic, it has been unplottable for longer than anyone can remember and a terror grips anyone who finds themselves there. Very few ever venture willingly to those marshes and of those who have, fewer have returned. Whoever is out there has the power not only to withstand that for days, but to add to it. They've woven wards to keep us out."

Harry sat in silence for a few moments. "So I take it we're heading out there tomorrow?" Harry asked, pinching his brow.

"If you'll help us. The minstry is willing to compensate you."

"I suppose I could use a new broom." A few seconds went by before he asked, "You think this is related to the situation in Greece?"

"There is no way to tell at this point. Twenty of Russia's top aurors including myself are leaving at dawn. We postponed it until you arrived."

"I'm honoured." he said, dryly.

The two sat in silence for a long while, Misha occasionally sending rounds of drink to their table which they polished off neatly. They talked of old times, and of Vasilij's new family. Whenever either mentioned Viktor, the conversation turned to a pensieve silence until one or the other rememered a funny anecdote of no real importance. The crowd of wizards at the bar slowly thinned as the hour grew later.

Harry looked at the clock on the wall and noted the hour. "Dawn is a lot closer then it was a few minutes ago, maybe we should have gotten some sleep." he slurred.

"Sleep is for the weak." Vasilij replied. Or at least that's what Harry thought he said, the Russian had buried his head in his arms and was leaning on the table.

"Vasilij Volchok, Profesional Auror my arse."

A tall man at the bottom of the bar raised his hand, "Another round here." he said in what Harry thought was a Polish accent.

A few minutes later Misha brought he drinks down on a large tray, the four men stood abruptly, one of them grabbing Micha and pressed his wand into her neck. "Now precious, don't move and everything will be alright. We have no quarrel with you," he muttered soothingly.

Vasilij and Harry, noticing what had happened, stood abruptly. Vasilij drew his wand and shouted something in Russian. Harry on the other hand did not draw his wand, but took a few steps forward.

"Harry Potter, drop your wand and crawl here or I he'll open the bitch's throat." the small man with the beard demanded in accented English.

Harry closed his eyes and wobbled, gripping the back of a nearby seat for support, appearing as an average drunk, nobody in the bar noticed that the stumble had allowed him to take his wand in hand. Harry closed his eyes and felt the grain of his wand, and with a force of will and a twist of magic, Harry cast one of the few medical charms he could while drunk. The interesting thing about the sobering charm, is that it was originally designed to clear the blood of any toxins. It collected the poison in the stomach then forced the individual to vomit the offending substance out at high speed. When used with alcohol it was the poor mans sobriety charm.

Harry felt his mind clearing and the cold sensation of alcohol pooling in his stomach. He opened his eyes and stared at the man across from him. He suddeny lurched forward drunkenly and bent over.  
>"Not the time to lose your head, Harry." Vasilij growled.<p>

Suddeny he felt the final stage of the spell took hold. Harry took a step forward and vomited the pure alcohol onto the bearded man's face. Chunks of stew tangled in the man's beard and the vodka burned his eyes.

A moment of stunned silence echoed throughout the bar.

The with a furious roar, Vasilij drew a huge, thick knife from his robes, picked up the wizard nearest to him and with one smooth motion plunged the knife into his chest, pinning him to the wooden pillar.  
>Taking advantage of the distraction Harry drew his wand in one quick motion ignited the pure alcohol that was covering his opponent. Ignoring the flash of light and the smell of burning flesh Harry cast a shield and dived behind a table. There was a flash of red light, and Harry's shield flared purple, reflecting the curse.<p>

Vasilij, after stabbing the man holding his sister, grabbed her and threw her behind a table before spinning to rejoin the fight. All he saw was a flash of red before dropping into unconsciousness.

"Perfect." Harry muttered and peaked around the edge of the table taking stock of his enemies. The one he had lit on fire had stopped screaming and looked as if he had cast a flame-freezing charm. The one stabbed to the pillar was stirring weakly as blood pooled around him. Another was healing the burns of the first, and the last was standing back nervously, apparently guarding the door.

Harry closed his eyes in concentration and waved his wand in a complicated pattern ending with a wide sweep over the area his enemies had occupied. All of the furniture had animated and the ground was transfigured into quicksand. The chairs that previously laid discarded leaped at the three men. One stalked, catlike, towards the nervous one guarding the door. With a sudden motion the chair snapped one of it's fron legs and leaped at the wizard, impaling him in the throat. The other was knocked to the ground. The last man, now with slightly less of a beard and slightly more blackened scar tissue, managed to destroy the two remaining chairs,giving his friend respite.

The man stood. "Fuck you!" he screamed. "Fiendfyre!" he incanted, cursed fire spilling from his wand.  
>"Fucking idiot." Cursed harry, who quickly began an intricate motion with his wand, hoping he was in time. A frigid wind swept through Harry's very being. It was a cold unlike any other. A freezing gale that bore no pysical effect but chilled everything Harry was made of. The cursed fire, now in the form of a large spider, began to flicker in and out. With a sharp pop the fire disappeared.<p>

Harry turned his attention to the last man. Harry raised his wand, but before he could do anything the man rushed him. Harry crashed to the floor, shifting his weight he quickly pinned his attacker, and was about to drop an elbow in his face before he felt the tug of a portkey activating. His stomach dropped and as soon as he was dragged into the storm of whirling light and colour he lashed out with a severing curse.

The other man's hand, still gripping the portkey, was severed at the wrist and he span into the storm, screaming.

0000000000000

Vasilij woke with a sharp kick to his side. The burly Russian grunted in pain, rolled onto his stomach and promptly vomited on the timber floor.

"Volchok, you dirty Jewish bastard," a sharp voice snapped, "Care to explain why I have to drag you out of a pool of your own vomit on the morning of an operation? And where is this Potter man we're paying for?"

Vasilij cracked an eyelid and peered up to a scarred, unshaven face. Dmitri Abelev was a wizard old enough to have fought in the riots of 1917 and fought Grindlewald's followers in the streets of Novgorod. The man was a known psychopath who relished in the torture of anyone brought before him. He was also Vasilij's boss.

Memory of the night flooded back to him and with a start he jumped up from the floor. "Misha!" he roared as he ran to the back of the bar.

"Fucking Polack's gone mad." Abelev muttered to himself.

Vasilij found her laying under a table, unconscious. He hurriedly cast a few medical charms that told him that there was nothing seriously wrong with her. As he relaxed, his panic was replaced with a cold fury. The scum had attacked his family. He knew Harry could handle himself but the fact that he wasn't here worried him greatly.

"Abelev, we need to move now. They attacked us but it had to have been them trying to stall us."  
>"Which they've done well." The old wizard growled in response.<p>

He called to the back, "Smetanine, stay with my sister."

A young looking auror walked to the front, obviously disgruntled to be missing out on the action. Vasilij doubted that the boy realised he was being done a large favour. As he and Abelev walked out of the Pixy towards the portkey, he couldn't shake the feeling that blood would be spilled. Lots of it.

00000000

Harry fell through the vortex, trying not to look at the stump still gripping the portkey. The trip lasted barely more than a second and Harry felt his boots crash onto a hard stone floor. Immediately he fet a crushing fear, an instinct to flee so powerful it was primal in it's urgency. He ruthlessly crushed the feeling and looked up to see that he was in cellar of sorts- and he wasn't alone. Three dancing globes of bluebell flames illuminated the room, casting light on a figure who was warming his hands over them.

"You have taken your time, I assume Potter and that auror are dead?" the figure asked through a thick Spanish accent.

Harry flicked his wand in the spaniard's direction and the wizard -still crouched- toppled over, rigid. "Yep, dead as a doornail. Legilimens," he whispered. He felt the rush that accompanied legilimancy as he drove a part of his consciousness into the other wizard's mind, only to find that he was searching through images of the Spaniard having weirdly violant sex.

Harry's face twisted in disgust. "You're an utter bastard." He sighed, the wizard was clearly proficient in Occlumancy. Harry stood on the man's wand and felt it snap under his boot. Then he cast a silencing charm and cancelled the paralyzing jinx. Immediatly the man tried to get up, only for Harry to swing his foot into his crotch. The wizard roared inaudiably and fell back to the ground, grasping his injured testicles. Harry grinned and raised his wand, "legilimens."

The Spaniard was still reeling from the pain and failed to gather his mind in time, making it easy work for Harry as he tore brutally through his mind. Images assaulted Harry, some as clear as day, others murky and undefined. He picked up the fact that he was somewhere in the marshes Vasilij had mentioned, a large flat plain interspersed with small groups of trees. He felt the man's fear, not the fear that Harry would hurt him, but a strange sense of unnease and wrongness about the area itself. He tried to pick through more useful pieces of information, how many wizards where there, what was their purpose? All he could gather was that they were looking for something, and they were running out of time. He lurched backwards as the wizard expelled him forcibly out of his mind, but he'd gotten most of the information he wanted.

Harry looked at the wooden staircase. The smart thing to do would be to apparate the hell out of dodge and help Vasilij locate this place as was arranged. But he was here now, he reasoned, so what the hell. He petrifyed the Spaniard once more, levitated him aganst the wall and whispered, "Cohesisempra." The permanant sticking charm was perhaps unnessecery but Harry felt it fair retaliation.

He crept up the wooden staircase slowly, wary of turning a corner and facing a group of his would be killers. As he reached the top he heard voices, they sounded angry, some in dialogues he couldn't understand. The cacophony stopped abruptly when someone shouted authoratively in German, one of the languages harry had learned on his travels.

"This discussion is unneccesary. Martin and his team will kill Volchok and his aurors before they can slip past the wards, we've almost found it."

Harry flattened himself against the wall, out of sight, and listened. Another man spoke up in broken german, "But what of this Potter man? They say he is a prodigy. They say he has learned under both Dumbledore and Riddle." A bout of concerned muttering followed the statement and Harry felt a surge of pride. This was going in Dumbledore's pensieve.

"He is no prodigy, the English are playing their status. In any case, the team I have sent is more than able to handle both him and the auror. Men, we have come a long way. Do not forsake this cause when we are so close. The discontent you feel is merely a testament to this old king's great power. He cursed this land, the weak of nerve can only approach the borders of this place without going half mad. Each one of you here is man enough to withstand his power, do not give in to it now. We will have this power for our own!" he exclaimed.

Harry's snort was drowned out by the cheers of the men outside. He estimated there must be more than twenty of them. He peeked around the corner to see them filtering outside through a rickety old door. The building he was in was barely more than a shack, with rotting floorboards and a musky smell of something unpleasant that he couldn't quite pin down.

He moved into the ro when he was sure it was empty, trying to make it to what was left of a window. What he saw confused him. A line of around twenty wizards were walking into the marshes, towards a lumpy, uneven wall in the distance. Then, he saw something that made his blood run truly cold. They were walking straight towards a gigantic three headed dog.

Harry dropped into a crouch, unconsciously gripping his wand tighter. What the fuck are they doing with a cerberus? He asked himself. He watched as the dog rose and sprang at the oncoming wizards, only to be snapped back by what looked like a series of ropes tied around it's neck. All in all Harry counted twelve men holding the Cerberus back, alternating between holding the rope and flaying the dog's back with whip-like spells.

Eventually the dog settledand the wizards walked by, towards the lumpy, misshapen wall. Harry whispered a spell and with a sharp pain his vision narrowed but extended itself. He could now clearly see what the wall was made of and it brought bile to his throat.

What had looked ike a wall to him in the distance,was actually a line of people standing side by side, naked and staring out into the marshes. Men, women and even children formed the line. The Cerberus padded over to the line and with one swift motion, the middle head enveloped a large man in it's mouth, threy it's head back and started chewing. Blood and chunks of flesh dropped from the hound's mouth as it ate the man whole.

Harry nearly vomited then and there. "I've gone far too long without sleep for this shit." he muttered to himself.

He crept back from the window and restored his vision to normal. He didn't need to see that magnified. As he moved back he noticed the dank, musty smell grew more potent.. and that it was joined but other smells. Piss, shit and vomit. Harry looked around and found that the smell was eminating from a locked door. Curiosity overpowered his stomach and he waved the door open with his wand.

The vomit that threatened Harry for the last few minutes finally found a way free and he expelled it onto the wall. The room was filled with countless naked muggles, some obviously dead, some obviously insane and others on the brink. They barely reacted when he opened the door, some only shied away from the light. He picked the sanest looking one that was closest to him and gently looked into her mind.

She was walking home in a small town when suddenly she had blacked out. She woke up on the edge of a small lake in the wetlands, completely naked. Harry saw the wizards lay the imperius on her and after that, things became distorted. He was being crushed by freezing water, a desperate need to find something, something more important than her life.

With a sharp gasp, Harry ended the spell and turned to look out the fears were confirmed. The wall of people were diving into the lake with wizards behind them controlling them like puppets. The group was using the imperius to make kidnapped muggles search for them. For the first time in years, Harry was at a loss. He was simply fucked in over his head here. They had a Cerberus for god's sake, nobody would blame him for just regrouping with Vasilij.

Harry stood in the doorway for a few seconds, the writhing mass of insane muggles behind him and sighed. Whatever they were looking for, he doubted it would mean fun times and he had no guarantee that Vasilij was still coming. He remembered something that Professor Riddle had said to him once, "Harry, when the odds are long and the stakes are great, send in the noble and courageous. When they're dead, dodge and shoot for the balls."

With a curse he dissilusioned himself and crept out into the marsh.

A flash of cobalt blue lightning split the eery silence of the wetlands as a group of wizards in dark blue robes appeared out of thin air. They strode forward silently, Auror Volchok and department head Abelev leading the lines. "You sure you do not want to go back to the office and get the papers ready?" Vasilij asked.

"You sure you don't want to dissapear in these marshes?" the older wizard replied. For all of the appearence of friendly banter, Vasilij had a strange feeling that his boss had carried through on threats like that. About fifty feet into the trek the horizon began to blur oddly and the group drew to a halt.  
>Vasilij felt the effect of the marsh close in on him, clammy and terrifying. Every instict was telling him to get out of there and to do it as fast as possible but he raised what little mental defenses he had and turned to his men. "Ignore it, brothers. We are here to bring justice to the men responsible for the deaths of Ivan and Grigorii."<p>

There was a murmer of assent as the aurors steeled themselves. "This is a strange ward, Dmitri. We know they're in there, we can walk freely inside it, but we can't seewhat we're looking for unless it's broken." he said in a low voice, as he cast an eye over the land in front of him.

"I've seen this before, it's like the Fidelius but it only takes hold once we cross the threshhold. The only way in is a portkey tied to the wards themselves." he paused and looked at the younger auror. "If we have any luck at all, Potter will be inside. If he's still alive."

"How will he help?"

Abelev's face took on a wolfish grin. "He can kill the warder."

"So, if harry's dead we have no way in?"

"Were you not listening boy?" Abelev growled "We can't see them, but there are things that can sniff them out. I was on the floo with Vdovin last night, he owes me a large, large favour."

A horrendous roar echoed through the land behind them and Vasilij realised why Abelev was grinning so maniacally. On the horizon behind him, a small black dot was rapidly growing to immense proportions.  
>"And there he is now." the old auror whispered.<p>

"You're actually insane." Vasilij whispered, horrified.

"I'm your future, Volchok." Abelev replied as the Romanian Longhorn soared overhead, bringing terrified screams from the aurors beside him. A shower of sparks flew from the dragon's back, where Vasilij could see two dragon handlers holding on with expert ease.

"That could kill Harry too if he's in there." Vasilij hissed, looking down at his superior.

"I gave you command of this and didn't ask questions when you decided to hire some outside firepower to help. Your firepower got kidnapped, mine is going to torch the kidnappers. It's not my fault that Potter isn't all he's cracked up to be."

"There's no way the minister signed for this." he insisted.

"What he doesn't know won't get him a kick in the sac from me."

"He's the minister." Vasilij deadpanned.

"He also has the wit to defer to me in matters of security."

The dragon flew over the marsh for about a mile before it let out a shriekand dove, unleashing a great bout of fire at the ground. Flashes of red and blue rose to meet it.

Abelev crowed, "We have them! Men, follow that dragon and shoot in wide area bursts, We might not see them but I'll guarantee we'll hit more than a few. Yurin, Zinoviev, Tchesnov and Ragulin, shielding's up to you. Move!"

Vasilij knew the plan was insane, he knew it was beyond dangerous but he also knew that they didn't have many other options, so he shut his mouth and apparated forward in leaps with the rest of the aurors. Knowing that Abelev would help him dissapear if he didn't follow orders also helped. So Vasilij obeyed his orders and went into battle against an enemy he couldn't see, with a dragon spitting fire above his head.

0000000

Harry exhaled, each breath forming a little cloud that merged seamlessly with the fog. The sun wouldn't rise for a few hours yet, and even then only making a brief appearance. How he hated being any further north than Hogwarts. The mist rising off the water had grown thicker. He wordlessly cast a dissillusionment charm, making him almost completely invisible in the freezing fog. He added a silencing charm to his feet after stepping into an icy puddle. The last thing he wanted was to get his face bitten off by the Cerberus before he could curse anyone.

Harry glanced up at unblinking stars in the sky. They seemed duller than they had earlier. Even the hald moon didnt shine quite so brightly. It reminded him of Professor Sinistra's constant annoynance with the wards of Hogwarts dulling her precious constellations. If Vasilij and his aurors were out there they'd be having a difficult time of it, he thought and noted that his first goal should be to take out whoever had cast the wards. Not that he knew who that was, he reminded himself as he moved forward, silently.  
>The land was scattered with low tangled clumps of vegetation which Harry used as makeshift cover as he scouted ahead. Ahead of him, but standing back from the rest of the group was a lone wizard, apparantly having trouble subduing the mind of the woman at his feet. Harry took aim, intending to remove the wizard silently but just as he raised his wand to curse him, cheers erupted from further down by the small lake. Muggles were flung out of the water and through the air as the wizards celebrated. Harry's target ran towards his comrades.<p>

"Well Shit," Harry cursed.

He one again extended his vision magically and he saw a small wizard in a thick black coat take a small stone box from the hands of a naked muggle man, half submerged in the water. The wizard thrust the box in the air triumphantly, signalling a renewal in the cacophany of cheers and shouts. Even the Cerberus handlers came to join in the celebrations, collectively pelting their charge with stunners until the hellhound eventually sank. After a moment the crowd parted slightly and a large man with a thick black beard took the box from the wizard whose muggle had found it.

Harry grimaced as the flash of a killing curse struck the muggle in the chest, his body going limp and sinking beneath the waters of the marsh, silently. Stowing his revulsion, he tightened his grip on his wand and moved around the group of men, getting closer to the unconscious hellhound and its handlers who had lagged behind slightly.

The bearded wizard transfigured a small raised platform from the ground and stepped onto it, holding the box high in one hand, casting a soronus charm with the other. "My friends, today the first steps have been taken. Today is a day that will live long in the memory. Today is the day that we found it—the flesh of Volkhov!" he spoke in German.

The handler's cheers joined those of their fellow wizard. Harry crept to within feet of the men, before using the cheers of the crowd as cover as he verbalized his will muttering, "Vox Serpentis." The moist boggy ground around him shuddered slightly as multiple strips of saturated earth rippled towards the handlers is an almost snakelike manner.

The three wizards who had remained with the Cerberus didn't notice as columns of earth with snakelike heads, thicker than tree trunks with pewter stones for eyes, rose silently from the ground behind them. As the crowd reached it's crescendo, the snakes struck. Their jaws unhinged and they swallowed the three wizards whole, from the head down. No sounds could be heard from within the earthen serpents as they dove headfirst back into the marsh, burying the wizards alive.

Harry turned to the cerberus and grinned. The three-headed dog was sleeping restlessly, its back covered in scars from the brutal whippings courtesy of its handlers. Harry jabbed his wand at the oversized dog and whispered, "Enervate." At first the spell seemed to have no effect, but then the body heaved and it's right and left heads snapped awake. If he wasn't standing behind a fully grown Hellhound he might have found amusement in the sight of the two heads barking at the middle head, causing it to wake, groggily. The massive canine rose to its paws and howled in three bloodcurdling tones.

Harry hastily jumped back and dissaparated, using the dog's roars to mask the noise. He reappeared waste deep in the marsh, and cursed as he felt the cold soak his lower half. He settled down into cover to watch the chaos created by an enraged cerberus and the twenty surprised wizards in close proximity.  
>The ground quaked under the charge of the now fully awake, and very pissed off cerberus. The wizards at the back of the crowd only had a moment to scream before the monstrosity bowled into them, trampling them underfoot. Three hideous heads were busy snapping at any wizard who came close. Harry took advantage of the distraction and began to softly chant and move his wand, leaving burning streaks of fire hanging in the air. A few seconds later a white light enveloped the area for the briefest of moments before the air seemed to close in on him and the anti-apparation ward took hold. Several unlucky wizards tried to apparate away from the Cerberus' path before hitting the barrier and being enveloped in snarling jaws.<p>

Harry flicked his wand again, and several spheres of dark gray magic sped out of his wand toward the group of wizards. There was a small explosion as each ball struck a target, and thick, choking, smoke filled the clearing.

Inside the cloud of smoke, Harry could see flashes of spellfire as they tried to blindly subdue the beast. The bright red of the stunner gave way to the sickly green of the killing curse as the wizards grew more desperate. Harry stood to circle around the cloud of smoke when there was a sharp intake of air, then a small pop as the smoke was banished.

The mostly unharmed cerberus, splattered in the entrails of devoured wizards bounded into the midst of a group that were trying to subdue it. Several wizards lay on the ground, clearly dead having been hit by a stray killing curse. Naked muggles snapped back to their senses and stood screaming, not knowing where to run. On the far outskirt of the area however, stood the German man holding his wand loosely in one hand, an enraged expression on his face.

"Well, Mr. Potter," the man practically hissed in accented English. "It seems as if you have survived. I assure you that is only temporary."

"Why is it always the Germans?" Harry muttered to himself quietly. "Inilendio," he grunted. The Foe Hammer sped towards the German wizard who jumped aside rather than try to shield it. With speed Harry had only seen from high rank duelists, the wizard shot a bright purple lance of magic straight back at him. Harry threw up a hasty shield, twisting his body to remove the force from the unknown curse before jumping backwards to avoid a cutting curse. The wizards around Harry's opponent stepped back from the display and went to aid their comrades in subduing the Hellhound.

Harry flicked his wand, and diverted the course of another purple spell into the nearby marsh. It was a handy trick that Professor Dumbledore had taught him a few years back.

Harry responded in kind with a searing flash of white light and rolled to the left, sending a quick chain of cutters toward his target. A brilliant sapphire sphere blossomed around the German wizard as Harry's cutting curses impacted the previously invisible shield.

Harry hadn't anticipated the German wizard being much of a problem and found it hard to move from the back foot. The German kept up the pressure with the brilliant green of the Killing Curse which Harry only narrowly avoided. Then, just as he thought it couldn't get worse, an ear splitting shriek tore through the air causing both wizards to look skyward.

A massive Romanian Longhorn descended from the clouds, screeching and spitting fire in its wake.  
>"Yeah, that makes perfect sense." Harry thought as he dove into the water behind him. From the depths, he could see the distorted shape of the dragon soaring over the water's surface. When he came up for oxygen a moment later, his eyes darted around, looking for threats. The dragon had layered the marsh with flames intense enough to blacken rock and boil water. Through the inferno he could see the cerebus unaffected by the dragon's fire and chasing after it with blinding speed. Harry could barely make out the forms of two men on the dragon's back. He realised they must be handlers and tried to shout in warning as the Hellhound leaped in the air and crushed the dragon's tail in it's jaws. The Longhorn screeched as the Cerberus yanked it to the earth in a massive show of strength.<p>

Harry saw the German man pick himself up out of the marsh, his head was badly burned from being closer to the fire than he was. Harry raised his wand, before he could cast another spell the air was split with a high tone and a brilliant flash of white. The wards had come down. The caster must have been killed by the Dragon's first pass, Harry realized.

The German wizard launched a volley of curses towards Harry, but this time he was ready. He ruthlessly beat back the onslaught by timing his shield charms perfectly. An aurora of multi-faceted light shimmered around him as his opponent's spells crashed against his shields. Harry quickly found his rhythm and advanced, reflecting the spells he could back at their caster and dodging those lethal flashes of green. Screams and screeches filled the air as the two wizards duelled.

A wizard in a leather vest flew through the air as the Longhorn wrestled with the Cerberus. The giant Hellhound snarled at bit at the dragon as the Longhorn's remaining handler fought to avoid ending up in one of the three sets of snapping jaws. The dragon's wing had been badly torn and it leaped backwards, lashing out with jets of flame. The Cerberus once more barged through it without a scratch and snapped at the dragon's throat. Blood splattered through the air as Hellhound fangs crushed through Dragon scales and fierce talons tore at the massive hound's flanks. The dragon came off worse and instinct took hold, telling it to fly away. Once it burst free from the Hellhound's grip it roared and tried to take to the air.

Harry flicked his wand and transfigured more of the marsh serpents that had been so useful before. With a mental nudge they slithered off toward their target. The German wizard took the opportunity to send a blasting curse toward Harry and closed the distance. The dark orange spell sped across the distance between Harry and his opponent. Before Harry could shield the spell, tonnes of beast intercepted the spell as the Cerberus charged the dragon, managing to catch it mid-flight and bringing it down between the two wizards. The rolling mass of fur and scales was punctuated by the snarling of three heads and the roar of the dragon.

The Cerberus was bleeding from several long gashes in its hide, but the Dragon wasn't faring much better. There were many bite marks and deep puncture wounds from the Cerberus' teeth.

Those wizards who had avoided the wrath of the quarrelling beasts had taken to running towards the cover of a small grove of gnarled trees. Several of them aided their leader by sending muti-hued curses at Harry, who was forced to shield and dodge from two sides. The German's face took on a maniac grin as he sent curse after curse at Harry, wearing his opponent down.

Harry was getting desperate now, he was trying to fight from both sides, one of which was a very skilled and dangerous wizard. His concentration slipped as he spun rapidly to shield a putrid yellow curse and he felt a crushing pain in his leg that forced him to his knees. He didn't have time to scream as he rolled away from a killing curse. After going days without sleep, he couldn't keep up with the pace as his shield was bombarded. With a sharp flicker his shield broke and he was thrown from the ground, landing in a particularly boggy part of the marsh.

Behind him jeers rang out. "It seems as if you've been a victim of your own publicity, Potter." The German wizard mocked.

Harry hurt too much to make a suitably witty retort. This was it for him, he realised as the German walked towards him. After all he had learned, he was beaten by one reasonably strong duelist and his followers, mainly due to his own arrogance. He coughed and a small mist of blood escaped his lips. His vision blurred slightly as he pushed himself to his knees and grasped his wand.

"Last words, Potter?" he asked as he pointed his wand at Harry's forehead.

Harry coughed again and whispered hoarsly, "Spheara Aegis." A crimson dome extended from the tip of Harry's wand, shielding himself from the wrath of the incoming Aurors. The German glanced over his shoulder as a wave of lightning struck him and flung him over Harry and into the marsh.

Dozens of sprinting aurors were running in his direction, exchanging curses with the remaining crowd of outlaws. Harry spotted Vasilij at the forefront, running towards him. The big Russian grasped him under his arm and dragged him to the side while firing a string of bone breakers over Harry's head.  
>"You took your fucking time." he coughed out.<p>

"And you were just beaten around like - is that a Cerberus?" he asked in a strangled voice.

"Three heads, massive, bloodthirsty. I'd say so." Harry replied a he batted away an incoming curse.  
>The two massive beasts were still rolling around on the ground, ripping at each other with teeth and claws. Harry wasn't sure who he was rooting for.<p>

One foolish young Auror tried to show some initiative and fired a stunning spell at the German wizard who had recovered from Vasilij's curse. His attempt was met with a silent killing curse to the chest.

Harry stumbled as Vasilij roared and shot a string of curses at the German. The German wizard dodged and tapped his wand to a piece of debris. The object, which Harry realised was a limb glowed blue and he disappeared in a vortex of light. Both Harry and Vasilij cursed. After their leader had left it was only a matter of rounding up his dispirited followers. And tending to the wounded.

The Cerberus lay mortally wounded with the body of the Longhorn beside it.

Abelev walked towards them. "Thank you for your assistance, Mr. Potter. You were very helpful." Harry snorted weakly at the man's poorly veiled sarcasm.

"You're welcome, I suppose. Is that your dragon?"

The department head looked distinctly uncomfortable. "That was the Romanian's dragon. How the hell this rabble of scum managed to get a hold of a Hellhound is beyond me. There's going to be hell to pay."  
>"I thought the minister knew to stay out of your way?" Vasilij asked with a grin.<p>

Before Abelev could reply Harry spoke up. "This is a great conversation but I'm bleeding out here."  
>Vasilij apologised and handed him a bronze ring from his robes. "This will take you to the Hospital."<p>

"Thank you," Harry said as he grasped the ring. "Oh and we need to talk when you're done here."

Vasilij grimaced as his friend disappeared in a haze of blue.


	3. Interrupted respite

**Chapter two: Interrupted respite**

"Barny stop. We'll be caught." she whispered. The old wooden shelves jutted against her back as she tried to right herself.

He laughed quietly. "You really want to? You seem to be having a decent time."

She moaned as he lowered his head and planted butterfly kisses on her neck. "We're prefects. It's our duty to... keep going." She ran her hands through his hair and pulled his head tighter against herself, unconsciously hooking one leg around his calf.

The couple grew frenzied in the dark, losing interest in the world around them. That was probably a mistake. The girl gasped as the door flew open and torchlight spilled in on them. Barny shouted in surprise and fell back against a stack of old wooden buckets. She pulled her top down and clutched her robe close, squinting at the doorway.

A tall, handsome man in his fifties stood there. His grey hair was kept short and neat, much like the rest of him. "Barnabus Bones and Astrid McBride. Forgive me, I didn't mean to intrude but I wasn't aware that storage cupboards were to be this thoroughly inspected."

Both prefects turned bright red and stammered different excuses. Bones seemed to gather his wits -what little he had- and said, "Eh, Sir, Mr. Filch asked us to help look for hidden contraband."

McBride elbowed him in the ribs. "Barny, shut up. We're very sorry Professor, it won't happen again." She said this as contritely as she could, her eyes lowered to the floor.

"Yes, see that it doesn't. Go back to your dormitory. Your patrol ended half an hour ago."

The two teenagers nodded their thanks and started off. "Not you, Bones. I don't like liars. Two weeks detention with Mr. Filch. Seeing as you're so eager to help him."

The Hufflepuff's face turned an ugly puce colour as he protested the unfairness of the punishment. "What? Professor, you didn't punish Astrid!"

"I'd advise you to stop talking, Bones. Judging by the look on miss McBride's face, you're in for more punishment than two weeks detention."

Bones caught sight of his girlfriend as his mistake dawned on him.

Tom Riddle ignored the sound of irate hexing as he continued down the corridor. Neither would have any reason to stay out of their dormitories that night.

He unconsciously made his way back to his rooms, a well worn path he knew from reflex. Well cast detection charms doing his work for him, allowing his mind to wander. The castle had always been his home away from home. When Dumbledore had first come to his home and told him that he was a wizard, he couldn't believe it. From then on, he had felt he owed that man a debt. A debt that was amplified a hundredfold when he first caught sight of the castle from a rickety wooden boat on the lake. A thousand fold when he charmed his first feather.

He had made friends in this world. Friends that stood by him when his old world was destroyed. No matter what twists his life had thrown at him, he had always returned to the castle. And it had always welcomed him.

With a start he realized that he was outside his office. When he entered the large room he immediately drew has wand and aimed it at a shadow silhouetted against the far window. The figure had it's back to Tom and was sipping an amber liquid from a crystal tumbler. Lightning flashed outside and rain pelted the windows.

After a moment, Tom relaxed and walked to his desk to pour himself a glass. "You know, it's considered polite to ask before raiding someone's whiskey."

"You ever see a Cerberus, Professor?" the figure asked without turning.

The question caught Tom off guard. "Once when I was in Italy. It's execution was a social occasion. Would I be right to assume things didn't go well in Novgorod?"

Harry turned and took a seat across from his former teacher. "You could say that." he replied as he sipped.

"How is Volchok?"

"Jolly as ever. Before we were attacked in his sister's pub by some idiots throwing Fiendfyre around."

Tom raised his eyebrow. "Fiendfyre? Hellhounds? What actually happened up there?"

"A cauldron of shit mixed with lunacy. Vasilij called me to help the aurors catch a few wizards that were giving them trouble. The situation got out of hand. Old Abelev got spooked and called in for a dragon. He didn't know there was a Hellhound there. Turned out that we were attacking some sort of cult. A bad one. They were using the imperius on muggles."

Tom nearly lost his grip on the glass. "I haven't seen that used since-"

Harry cut him off. "He's still locked up. We checked."

"What happened?"

"Most of them were killed by the Aurors. A few got caught between the Dragon and the Cerberus while they were ripping the shit out of each other. It looks like the leader got away though. He found something called the 'Relic of volkhov'. I don't think he cared too much about the people around him once he got a hold of it."

The two sat in silence contemplating. Or what they thought was contemplating. In reality, both were drinking to forget.

After a while, Tom brought up the subject they had been avoiding. "Any word from Krum?" He saw the shadow cross Harry's face.

"Nothing good. I stayed with Vasil for a while to recover and we had some long talks about that. If he's involved with what happened back there..."

"Then you would have no choice." he finished for the younger man. "I've seen good men go rotten before, Harry. Make sure he has before condemning him."

"I just never thought Viktor would."

"I doubt Karkaroff's influence helped. The man is a slug."

"We should tell Professor Dumbledore about this." Harry said with a sigh.

"I'll do it in the morning. He hasn't been well lately." Harry didn't have to use legilimancy to see the flash of discomfort on Riddle's face.

"He's worse, then?"

"He'll be fine, I think. Tofty's death just made him realize that he's not immortal. It doesn't help that Malfoy's constantly trying to pry the position of Chief Warlock from him."

Harry scowled. "They're like Thestrals. At the first sign of weakness they're all over him."

"It also doesn't help that the Potter seat is regularly filled by proxies while the heir is running around Europe getting in fights. You could have a lot of clout you know."

"You could fill the seat for me if you'd reveal your heritage." Harry countered.

"And be treated as an outcast? People don't have the kindest views of Salazar. "

"The maniac who nearly destroyed Hogwarts before it got going, because of a grudge? Can't imagine why anyone would dislike the guy."

Tom snorted and Harry continued. "Probably a good thing that you haven't taken up the Potter seat. No Potter would snort into their whiskey."

"Largely because no Potter can hold their whiskey. Your father was the same, Lily could drink him under the table. Whether or not that was his intention is another story."

Once again the conversation lapsed into a silence. The crackling of the fire and the rain lashing against the windows the only sounds. "They'd be proud of you, you know." Tom said quietly.

"So, have you ever heard of this 'relic'?" Harry said.

"No. But I doubt it can mean anything good. We should wash our hands of it and let the Russians deal with it."

"Their leader was a German." Harry ignored the older man's scoff and continued. "If Krum's involved then that says that they have connections in Bulgaria and possibly Greece. I doubt that they're working in Russia alone."

Tom sighed. "This really shouldn't work its way into being a problem for us."

"It already is."

Tom nodded and sat back in his chair. "I don't know anything about it but in my experience, it takes a relic to find a relic. You should go see Flamel. I know Perenelle misses your elbows on her table."

Harry choked on his whiskey, "Nice, Professor. If there's any truth to the rumours you'd know what that's like."

"She's a fine looking woman, Harry. That elixir does wonders to a body's virility."

"And on that note I think I'll leave. I'll drop by to see the Headmaster soon."

"Do. Before you get yourself killed doing something stupid."

"Like Perenelle?"

Sometime later, Harry appeared from thin air in the middle of a small orchard. A silent summoning charm ripped an apple from its branch an into his hand as we strolled forward. This place had always smelled like home to him. He reflected on that as he bit into the ripe fruit. He was born here, raised here and he now lived here. The place that held memories of his family. And the place that held memories of how he lost them. He shot a look at disgust at the apple and discarded it as the small cottage came into view. A solitary worm poked it's head out of the underside, wondering why it had been disturbed.

The cottage had none of the grandeur of his Grandfather's estate and none of the oddness that marked places like the Weasley and Lovegood homes. A small area, making it an easy task to ward it so heavily that the air crackled around it. Practical and homely. Harry doubted he would ever move into the larger house in the north.

A warm orange glow came from inside the house, and a steady stream of smoke flew from the chimney. He let himself in through the back door and walked into the small kitchen. A load of dishes were washing themselves in the sink, making a mess of suds on the floor, and the smell of food made his stomach growl.

"That you, Harry?" a voice called from the sitting room.

Harry draped his cloak on the back of a chair and walked in in time to envelope the smaller black haired girl in a hug. "Yep." he said as she laid her head on his shoulder.

"You said you'd be back a week ago, I was worried."

Harry quirked an eyebrow. Her worried about him? That was a flip. "You going soft, Daphne?" He teased.

"Hardly. You haven't written me into your will yet. You're no good to me dead."

Harry laughed. "Your father still buying that?"

"He thinks he's getting control of George Potter's estate. What's sacrificing one of his daughters to the Potter scourge in the face of that? Especially since Astoria is still pure as the driven snow." Daphne said this with a wicked grin, aimed solely to distract him from the fact that she was trying to undo his belt. Downright dastardly.

In the morning he woke to sunlight streaming through the window. He turned to sling his arm over Daphne's sleeping body only to find an empty bed with still warm sheets. Of course. Heaven forbid she'd stay later than eight any morning. He rose from bed and stretched, body still aching slightly from his excursions and walked to the kitchen to find some breakfast.

Sitting on the table was a nice fresh cottage pie with a small note beside it. He picked up the note and read it.

_Harry,_

_Sorry for leaving early but Narcissa Malfoy wants help planning the Ministry Ball and my mother volunteered me. I've had Corry bring you some breakfast though._

_Love, Daphne._

Narcissa Malfoy was a poisonous old whore. It figured she'd be the reason behind him not getting any morning sex.

He ate his pie and and ran a hot bath, eager to start the day fresh when a shining white light poured through the bathroom window and coalesced into an ethereal pheonix. The bird faced him and Albus Dumbledore's voice filled the room.

"If you'd be so kind, Harry, I wish you to meet me at Hogwarts at your earliest convenience for a private chat."

He dismissed the patronus and shrugged out of his robes, letting his wand fall onto the pile on the floor. The headmaster could wait, he thought as he sank into the bath. He'd earned this reprieve at least. The water was both invigorating and relaxing as it the heat radiated through his body, easing various little aches. His glasses steamed slightly so he removed them and set them down on the edge of the bath.

While soaking he reflected on what could have happened to Viktor. The Krum he knew was soft spoken and withdrawn in public but boisterous and loud with his friends. A good person who, to Harry's knowledge, had never harmed another person. None who hadn't really earned it at least. The whispers coming from the east though... Viktor had supposedly been spotted close to the scenes of multiple murders and the dates lined up with his disappearence. Frankly the whole thing gave Harry a headache.

After a while the water grew cool and then cold as Harry mulled over his thoughts in silence. He was blissfully unaware of the man sneaking through his house until he was in the doorway.

"Avada Kedavra!" He roared.

Harry reacted just in time and threw himself out of the bath. He rolled on the ground and snatched his wand from the floor as the curse impacted the tub, shattering it into a thousand pieces and pouring water everywhere.

He whipped his wand in an arc from the floor and the water rose, following the tip frightening precision. He let loose aiming at the doorway and a pillar of pressurised bathwater slammed into the intruder and threw him into the wall.

Harry rose and cast a stunning charm but his attacker blocked it and burst forward, tackling him back to the ground and pinning his wand arm pointed away. The man drew back his fist and drove it into his face, tearing his cheek and sending his world spinning. While he was dazed the man drew a long cruel looking knife and thrust it down towards Harry's throat. He caught the man's arm with his free hand and turned the knife away, simultaneously summoning a large chunk of what used to be his bathtub. The heavy piece of porcelain crashed into the man and knocked him over allowing Harry to turn and disarm him from the floor.

The man's wand flew away from him and as he jumped after it harry rose and levelled a piercing curse at him, adding a particularly vicious twist at the end.

The curse hit the man in mid air and ripped through his shoulder like an invisible spear. He howled in pain and crashed to the floor bleeding profusely and cursing in what Harry thought was hungarian. He rushed over and aimed his wand at the man's throat. His attacker was a large well built man with long dark hair and a broken nose. He wore robes that were a strange combination of soft material and leather interspersed with strange symbols.

"Who are you?" Harry asked his voice cold with anger.

The man merely laughed through his pain and bit down hard on something in his mouth. Harry cursed and clenched his jaw between his hands, forcing his mouth to open. The view inside showed that the damage was already done. Some sort of particularly violent venom was already eating away at the man's insides, his mouth was dissolving to the bone. Harry looked into his eyes only to see them glassy and devoid of life.

He sighed and sat back still naked on the wet floor, blood seeping from his back where he'd fallen on bathtub debris.

He sent his patronus to Riddle with an urgent message and summoned what was left of his glasses. He fixed them easily and placed them back on his face before looking around and surveying the mess.

_And it was such a relaxing bath_, he thought.

Riddle arrived a short while later and knocked on the front door. Harry answered and ushered him in, casting an eye out into the garden as he did. He wouldn't normally have been so edgy but what happened that morning simply shouldn't have.

"Couldn't you have used the floo?" He questioned.

Riddle raised his eyebrow Harry's tone. "I wasn't near one. It was just as easy to apparate. Now could you tell me what happened? Your message wasn't very clear on details."

Harry beckoned the professor to follow him. "I'll show you what happened."

They reached the bathroom and he opened the door revealing his attacker still lying on the ground, half his head in dissolved ruins.

"Oh dear." Riddle said in surprise. "How did he manage to get through your wards?"

"I don't know. I was taking a bath and the next thing I knew he was in the doorway flinging curses at me. This place isn't Hogwarts but he should have tripped some sort of alarm."

Riddle drew his wand and moved it in a small arc through the air, closing his eyes in concentration. "You're right, it's not Hogwarts. Some of these wards are very sloppy. Were you drunk when you drew them?"

Harry frowned. "No. I was seventeen and hadn't yet found a reason to make them any more secure. They should be more than enough to keep out anyone with a reason to hurt me."

"That's the problem, Harry. If I were to guess I'd say this man didn't have a reason to hurt you at all." Riddle walked over and and crouched above the corpse.

"Don't bother, I checked his pockets. There's nothing there and there's nothing to identify him at all."

"Maybe not for you, but I happen to know this man." Riddle said quietly.

"What? How do you know him? Why did he break into my home and try to kill me?" Harry asked, anger crossing his face for the first time.

"Calm down, Potter and think about this logically. What age do you think this man is?"

"I don't know? Mid thirties? Maybe fourties?" Harry replied, confused.

"Yes. Now if he is indeed that age and happened to be a British wizard then there's a high chance that I would have taught him during his time in Hogwarts. The scar on left cheek and they eyes give me enough reason to believe this is Aloysius Croft. He was a Ravenclaw who had nasty habit of playing around with dark curses in school. It's why the scar never healed."

Harry closed the lid of the toilet and sat down opposite the corpse. "It can't be a coincidence, Professor. I come back from a nasty fight in Novgorod and someone tries to kill me here? You think the guys we fought in that marsh hired him?"

Riddle conjured a comfortable looking stool and sat down. "No. Alo Croft spent a few years in Azkaban after Hogwarts and ever since then he's kept his nose very clean."

"How do you know that?" Harry asked.

"I like to keep track of some of my more... shall we say _interesting_ students. The fear of the dementors kept him in line. If they hired him to kill you he'd have tripped the wards coming in. If I had to guess I'd say they used the imperius curse to walk him onto the property and then have him attack you when he was inside."

Harry leaned forward and rested his arms on his knees. "What if it had been Daphe in the bath and not me?"

"You needn't worry about that. A brazen attempt on your life in broad daylight with the use on an unforgivable curse is more than enough reason to improve your wards. I'll handle that myself."

"I'm more than capable of improving the wards on my own, professor." Harry said, slightly annoyed.

"Not to my level of expertise you're not. Besides, I thought you'd be happy. This gives you more than enough reason to gallivant around Europe after this relic. Whoever cursed this man had to be in the country to do it and that makes it a British problem."

"They wouldn't risk doing this on British soil just for revenge. If they have people in the country for other reasons then we might be able to track them down." Harry said, the beginnings of a plan taking shape.

"Yes, which means the Ministry can not find out about this little incident and that includes not telling Ms. Greengrass. If these people are in the country then our best chance of finding them is by not scaring them off."

"Agreed."

"I'm going to inform the Headmaster of what has transpired here. Get rid of the body." Riddle commanded before clapping Harry on the shoulder and rising to leave.

"Tell him I'll be there to talk to him an a short while." Harry said, remembering Dumbledore's earlier request.

Riddle nodded and left the room in silence leaving Harry with the body.

"Well, time to get rid of you then, Alo. Sorry about this." He said, the oddness of apologising to the corpse of his would be killer not escaping him. A wave of his wand transfigured the wizard into a bone which Harry pocketed, intending to find a quiet spot to bury him.

Riddle walked through the long corridor leading to the Headmaster's tower, the morning's events weighing heavily on his mind. He cursed Harry for getting himself involved in the conflict but after time calmed, reasoning that it was in his protege's nature.

He'd taken a special interest in Harry during his time at Hogwarts. The boy who'd lost his mother before coming to Hogwarts and his father not long after. The boy with intense curiosity who reminded him so much of himself as a child. He too had walked the halls of Hogwarts, consuming knowledge at a frightening and near reckless pace.

It had been obvious from his first classes with Harry that he was a special talent. He hadn't needed the extra push or motivation that other children needed and displayed an affinity for even complex magic that was well beyond his peers. The Headmaster watched his development with equal interest until the day came when he had suggested that Riddle subtly take Harry under his wing.

Harry gained access to material and magic more challenging than the regular curriculum could offer and a strong moral compass when his home life was lacking.

He often thought that heeding Dumbledore's suggestion had been one of the best decisions of his life as he had been privy to the wonderful advances Harry made. When he thought about Harry's future he had no doubt that he would equal his own skill with magic and eventually surpass the Headmaster's, given his weakened state.

As he reached the stone gargoyle those thoughts led him to Dumbledore. His own mentor and the single biggest influence on his life. It pained him to see the man age so rapidly. Aberforth's death had taken a toll on him and the crushing responsibility of his political life combined with the failure to properly mend fences with the old innkeeper had resulted in the Headmaster fading a little.

The muttered the password and the stone gargoyle moved aside allowing him passage up. The staircase he'd ridden a thousand times seemed to take forever. When he finally ascended and knocked on the office door, it swung open quietly.

Albus Dumbledore sat in a large cushioned armchair staring out onto the grounds. He looked content but Tom knew that was not the case. The man was bored. Sick of the backhanded politics of the Ministry. He'd spent the last few years mired in the bureaucracy that the ministry loved so well.

"I was expecting Harry this morning, Tom but this is an equally pleasant visit." Dumbledore turned his head slightly towards Tom, a small smile playing across his aged features.

The younger man walked towards the large window and sat down on a seat beside the Headmaster.

"Indeed. I wish the news I brought was equally as pleasant."

Dumbledore said nothing, waiting for him to elaborate. Tom had the feeling that he would have waited for days.

"Harry was attacked this morning at Godric's Hallow. He said to tell you that he'll be here shortly, he has quite a mess to clean up."

Dumbledore seemed to perk up a little as the gears started turning in his mind. He could almost see the questions and possible answers lining up behind the old man's half moon spectacles.

"Young Aloysius Croft. We believe he avoided the detection wards because his mind was clouded by the imperius curse. He attempted to kill harry with the Killing curse and when he failed, took his own life by means of venom. Particularly potent."

Dumbledore raised an ancient hand and stroked his beard thoughtfully. "It would seem logical to assume that Harry's work in the cold north has followed him home. I was informed of the events that transpired in Novgorod by a friend in the Russian Ministry. This relic that was supposedly recovered... I'll admit I haven't the faintest idea what it could be but it seems to have attracted a rather dangerous crowd of wizards."

"Headmaster, Harry said that the wizards involved weren't of one single nationality. This could be a larger problem and if they've attacked Harry here it stands to reason that their agent will stay until the job is done." Tom said, his implication hanging heavy in the room.

"Yes indeed. It takes a particularly skilled wizard to feed the emotions required to cast a killing curse through the link created by the imperius. He will most likely attempt to kill Harry again, perhaps with a more direct strategy. If he does not then we can be glad that Harry is safe."

"But if he does?" Tom asked, knowing the answer.

"I have much faith in Harry, Tom. I know you do too. For now we shall see how events unfold. I'll suggest to Harry that he should see Nicholas to ask about this relic. I know he'd be delighted to see him." Dumbledore said, his last comment ringing with amusement.

"Yes, I suggested much the same to him myself. I must admit, it's amazing that the Flamels have stayed together for all these centuries without killing each other."

"Oh but Tom. They can't. They both have large stocks of the elixer." The old headmaster chuckled to himself.

"What about you, Albus? Have you ever considered asking Nicholas for a drop or two? You know he'd give it to you."

"Yes, I have no doubt that he would but I am far too curious my boy. Eternal life is not the road I desire to walk."

The sat in silence for a moment, lost in contemplation. It was peaceful until Dumbledore's wheezing cough shattered the moment. The old wizard brought a handkerchief to his mouth and wiped away a little spittle flecked with spots of red. He turned to Tom.

"Some way in the east, in the mountains of northern Hungary there is a charming little tavern. It's a crossroads of such for people who don't want to be found and information that probably shouldn't be found. When you find it, ask for Vilmos." Dumbledore raised his wand and summoned a small object from a shelf across the room. He caught it and handed it to Tom.

It was a small charm shaped like a star and made from iron but with a tiny emerald at its centre.

"Give that to Vilmos and he'll tell you what you want to know. Provided you ask the right questions." Dumbledore's gaze lingered on his wand for a moment before stowing it away inside his cloak.

"You should go now, Tom. Harry's on his way and the sooner you return from this trip the better. I'll arrange for your classes to be covered in your absence."

Tom nodded and rose. He put his hand on Dumbledore's shoulder. "I'll leave in the morning. I'm going to improve some of Harry's wards tonight. Don't die while I'm gone, Albus."

The headmaster looked up at him, a small smile playing behind his beard. "I have no intention of doing such a thing, Tom. Not when things are getting interesting."

Harry arrived in Dumbledore's office soon after Riddle had left. The Headmaster was still staring out onto the grounds.

"I'm sorry I'm late, Professor. I was busy cleaning up." He said as he took the seat left vacant by his mentor minutes before.

"Yes, Professor Riddle told me about the events of this morning. In his tale he neglected to inform me if you were injured or not. I believe the thought never even crossed his mind."

"I'm fine, Sir. I just wasn't expecting my bath to be that eventful."

"Such is the curse of talent, Harry. Your skills have earned you quite a bit of notoriety in magical communities. For every wizard who praises you there will be another who would like to see you dead or disgraced."

The Headmaster rose from his armchair and walked to the far side of his office. "I've brought you here for a special reason Harry. I want you to duel me."

Harry looked at Dumbledore, confused. "Sir, I think I've had enough of action for today and if you hadn't noticed, we're in your office."

"I'm quite aware of our surroundings, Harry. It will be a good exercise for your control."

"Professor, I'm not going to duel you." Harry stated, unsure of what the headmaster was thinking.

"Do you not think me capable, Harry? Not to blow my own horn but I've been told I'm rather good." Dumbledore stood facing harry, a wry smile on his lips. His eyes were twinkling in a way Harry hadn't seen for months.

"It's not that, Sir. We both know you're out of my league, even now. I can't keep up with Professor Riddle when he wants to duel and he's said many times he's no match for you."

"I fear Tom has been slightly modest. Think of it as a chance to learn if you must. Regardless, I do not intend to give you much choice."

Quick as a flash, Dumbledore raised his wand and spat a jet of fire at Harry who only barely dodged it. Conveniently, the fire stopped just before it would have torched the curtains.

Harry replied with a disarming charm followed by a stunner, both of which Dumbledore simply stopped. He waved his wand and the energy just faded to nothing before the spells reached him.

"Come Harry. You don't expect to beat me that easily do you? I will not be taking it easy on you so I would appreciate it if you would repay me in kind." Dumbledore said, as if he were chatting over a cup of tea.

Harry felt the attack coming and dodged just as a long spiny tail of splintered wood crashed into the floor where he had stood a second before. Without movement or word, Dumbeldore had transfigured a small table into a wooden scorpion.

Harry tried to re-transfigure it but the magic was woven together too tightly. Its existence was solid, as if the table truly believed it was alive. He settled for firing a wave of concussive sound at Dumbledore while he battered the table to splinters with a blasting curse. Almost in the same instant harry turned back to Dumbledore and released a blinding wall of pure light at the old Headmaster, hoping to take advantage of his fading eyesight.

Dumbeldore simply stood in the face of the spell rocking back and forth on his feet and harry noticed that somehow, Dumbledore had managed to predict his move and conjure a muggle welding mask to shield his eyes.

The carpet beneath Harry turned to snakes at a twitch of the Headmaster's wand but Harry wreathed his lower half in fire that felt chilly to him but radiated heat outwards.

Dumbledore was still wearing the welding mask and looking quite ridiculous when Harry Jumped towards him, wreathed in flames. The headmaster merely disappeared and reappeared on the other side of the office by the window.

"Oh come on!" Harry said in protest. "You know I can't apparate inside Hogwarts."

"If you have time to whine and complain about something, then you have time to do something about it. One of my favourite muggle quotes."

_Well if he won't play fair then there's no reason I should_, Harry thought.

He cast a strong spell silently in his mind and then bombarded Dumbledore with hexes and curses. The Headmaster batted them away easily, going so far as to turn a pair of piercing hexes into a miniature fireworks display.

Then the window behind him shattered into a million pieces as one of Hagrid's pumpkins rocketed through it into his back. Dumbledore flew forward as Harry rolled and condensed the shards of flying glass into one small, dense shield which barely blocked the blinding hex Dumbledore threw at him.

What was left of the carpet rose to meet Dumbledore and blindfolded him as the old headmaster felt a disarming charm hit him square in the chest. His wand flew outwards from his grasp and soared into Harry's outstretched palm.

Harry faltered in his movements for a second, wondering if Dumbledore was hurt but the man merely lifted his welding mask revealing a smiling face which burst into laughter. The first time Harry had heard him properly laugh in years.

"What was that about, Professor?" He asked, cautiously returning the wand to him.

"That, Harry, was necessary." He said as the younger man helped him to his feet. "You've grown so much, my boy."

"I don't understand what you mean by necessary, Sir." Harry said, confused and a tad annoyed.

"You will, don't worry about that. Now I believe Tom asked you to go pay Nicholas a visit? You should do that sooner rather than later." Harry was about to object but Dumbledore cut him off. "Don't worry about me, I haven't felt this alive in years. Go now and you'll arrive in time for dinner. Perenelle would enjoy that. Oh and best not to tell Tom about this little exercise. I fear he'd never let me live it down."

Harry nodded and cautiously left the room, closing the door behind him.

_This day is fucked up_, he thought to himself.

In his office Albus Dumbledore surveyed the mess and returned to his armchair, a wave of his wand repairing most of the damage. He would have to get a new carpet though. The wind blew through the empty window frame and he sat down to enjoy its freshness.

"Was that display really necessary, Albus?"

Albus turned his head and the portrait of Phineas Nigellus was looking down on him disaprovingly.

"I don't know what you mean, Phineas." He replied.

"We both know you could have won that duel."

"In my arrogance I underestimated my opponent and paid the price, Phineas. Surely that's something you of all people can understand." The headmaster said quietly.

"You really think the boy is ready to hold that power?" The portrait asked scathingly.

Dumbledore looked down at the ornate and ancient wand is his hands and stowed it in his cloak once more.

"Not quite, but when he needs it, it will be ready."


End file.
